


i travel the whole world but i keep you nearby

by humanluke



Series: real life au [6]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mental Health Issues, alternative universe, sleeping issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29450802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanluke/pseuds/humanluke
Summary: calum calls michael while he's away.
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Series: real life au [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936159
Kudos: 1





	i travel the whole world but i keep you nearby

Michael would be a little more concerned at his phone ringing at 2 in the morning under normal circumstances, he thinks. But he’s in the middle of a game of Fortnite when he hears his phone buzzing, and he looks over to see Calum’s face flashing over his screen. He wonders if he should answer it -- he knows Calum had already wished him good night earlier, on their nightly Facetime that they’d been doing since he was working on the West Coast. But he thinks that he wouldn’t have been calling him unless it was an emergency or something, so he leaves the session he’s in, answering the call.

“What’s up, babe?” Michael says, his voice soft and a little tired. He always sounds tired, and he always is, but that doesn’t stop him from being here in this situation right now. Calum lets out a breath that sounds almost surprised, a sudden exhale of breath like he wasn’t expecting to hear Michael’s voice on the other end of the phone call.

“Oh, I was just thinking of you and wanted to leave you a message for the morning,” he says, a little concern on the edges of his voice. Michael can hear it, but he chooses to ignore it until the follow up question. “It’s late, shouldn’t you be asleep?”

Those are Michael’s least favorite words to hear.

He’s good at pretending when Calum is around -- when he stays over, or when Michael goes over to Calum’s place. He perfected the art of feigning sleep a long time ago, ever since his parents sent him to therapy for his insomnia when he was younger. (The cause of the insomnia was the bigger issue here, but that was a story for another day.) Michael just shrugs a little before realizing this isn’t a Facetime call, and Calum absolutely cannot see him shrugging on the other end of the phone.

“Couldn’t sleep, so I was playing some Fortnite. Besides, just working the bar tomorrow, so I don’t have to work till 4pm. I’d ask you the same, but what is it, 11pm there?” Calum is off on a business trip to their hub in Los Angeles, working on a partnership deal with some start up there. He’s glad that Calum is passionate about his work for once, but desperately misses him when he’s away.

“Yeah, it’s only 11 here,” he says with a soft chuckle. “But you’ve been up since early, you should at least try to get some sleep. Want me to video chat and you can get into bed? I can talk business to you and help you fall asleep.”

“Don’t know if that’ll make me tired or aroused,” Michael jokes a little bit, yawning into the receiver as he stretches his arms up over his head. “But I would like to see your face again. Even if it’s been a couple of hours.” There’s a quiet beat. “I just miss you a lot, you know?” Calum lets out a soft sigh into the other end, and Michael can see the sad but soft smile on his face in his brain. It’s a look he knows all too well.

“I know, babe,” he says in that quiet, knowing tone. “Here, let me Facetime you.” Michael hears the line go dead and pulls the phone from his ear before the Facetime call pops up on his screen this time. Michael hits the accept button, and winces a little at how tired he looks in the glow of the TV light.

“Hi,” he says softly, turning his gaze to focus on the sleepy, grinning face of Calum on the other side of the screen. He’s already in bed, it seems, in an unfamiliar hotel room thousands of miles away.

Michael would give anything to be there with him right now, he thinks.

“Hey,” he returns, leaning back against the pillows, arm behind his head. “You look exhausted, Mike. Get into bed and I can tell you about my day again? Maybe that’ll help relax you.” Michael sighs before nodding in response. He pulls his headset off of his head and hits the switch for the tv, leaving him in the dark save for the light coming from the image of Calum on his phone. (The moment feels metaphorical to him somehow -- for Calum is the lighthouse that always brings him back to the shore after a storm.)

He fumbles into the bedroom, his lamp on the bedside still on from when he was attempting to sleep a little earlier (and was woken up not long after with a racing heart and a paralyzing fear to attempt to go back). He climbs into the bed, laying on his stomach and pulling the blankets up over him as he settles his gaze back onto Calum.

“There,” he says. “All safe and tucked in. Just missing my partner in crime.” They both smile softly at one another, sadness on the corners of their mouths as they admire one another. “Now, are you going to tell me something boring or what?” Calum lets out a soft laugh, sounding like bells to Michael’s ears and feeling his heart swell in his chest. He’s grateful he can make someone like Calum laugh for him.

“Right, of course,” he chuckles. “Let’s see… oh! I didn’t tell you about this client I met with today, oh my god was she fucking annoying…” and Calum goes off onto a rant about the client he’d had to meet with today. Michael spends the time tiredly watching him, yawning a little bit as he tries not to fall asleep as he watches him gesture wildly as he gripes about this woman. He manages to fail, however, falling asleep somehow as he raves.

“...and she had the audacity to…. Mike?” Calum’s voice grows soft as he realizes that Michael has indeed fallen asleep on him. He admires the sight, one he doesn’t truly get to see that often for a beat, before letting out a soft sigh. “Good night, love,” he murmurs before hanging up the call, setting his own phone down gingerly as he replays the sight in his own head.

He rolls over and goes to sleep himself, both of them dreaming of being with each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](http://cakelftv.tumblr.com)!


End file.
